Posted by Not Morrison on October 08, 2012 at 10:07:12:
In Reply to: Re: Eugene Kane retiring in Milwaukee, but being hired in Madison posted by Read1 on September 30, 2012 at 21:23:40:
[[Courtesy of The Business Journal - Milwaukee]]
Longtime Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnists Eugene Kane and Laurel Walker will be columnists no more, as Kane is switching to a reporter role and Walker is retiring.
The moves follow the daily newspaper and website announcing in August that it was offering a buyout targeting all Journal Sentinel employees. The offer entails two weeks severance for every full year of work plus six months of company-paid health insurance benefits.
Journal Sentinel publisher and president Betsy Brenner said in August that the buyout “is part of our ongoing effort to manage expenses.” The newspaper did not specify the number of positions to be cut.
The current buyout offer may be enticing to some unionized newsroom employees, who recently agreed to a contract that reduces future severance payments. The newspaper has conducted several rounds of buyouts since fall 2007.
Kane has written a column mainly focused on the African-American community and the central city for nearly 18 years. The 31-year veteran of the newspaper and its predecessor The Milwaukee Journal said newsroom management offered him either a buyout or a position covering Milwaukee Public Schools.
“I don’t see it as any kind of demotion because it’s an important beat,” Kane told me Tuesday.
Kane, 56, said he considered the lucrative buyout but decided he wanted to continue working at the Journal Sentinel.
“Essentially I’ll still be covering black people but not in a column,” he said, referring to the African-American majority in the MPS student body.
Walker, who has long written columns on Waukesha County lifestyles and issues, said via email she is “happily retiring.” She also has served as a reporter while writing columns.
At least one other columnist is in a position similar to Kane in terms of either leaving or shifting to beat reporting, but declined to comment.